CHAPTER - ONE

ALISTAIR'S POV

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Leaning on the Window -- my eyes drifts listlessly between the walking blood bags that wonder ignorantly on the streets.

I was looking for a distraction. Something, anything that could make me forget the last 48 hours of my Immortal life.

But alas, there is only so much entertainment you can amass from observing mundane chores humans enact from a window.

"Alistair!"

"Sire!"

I sigh tiredly turning my head away from the window to stare blankly at the two vampires that stood ever so worriedly at the entrance.

One of my gloved fingers reaches out and tugs lightly at the dark silk curtain shutting my view from the the window. A barrier instantly comes up -- you can never be too careful and for a man who was supposedly dead a simple barrier will have to suffice. 

Giving my full and undivided attention back to the trio standing in the bedroom, the two vampires I knew well enough I might even call them an acquaintance. while the last man was presumably a physician judging by the long dark robe, leather gloves and boots.

Not a word was spoken when my eyes scanned the room or when I walked across the room successfully avoiding both Aetos and Llosovic worried gaze.

Those mother hens.

The now confirmed physician sat on the other side of the sofa without missing a beat he started the examination the resulting outcome I knew all too well.

The physician remained expressionless as he checked my pulse. His demeanor was professional and distant, as if he were performing a routine physical exam.

"Sir Alistair, I am required to ask you some questions about your emotional state," he says, voice flat and emotionless.

"You may answer truthfully, or decline to answer if you wish." I nod, knowing well enough I would need to be honest if I wanted to receive treatment.

"Let's proceed with the simplest question first," he states.

"On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your current level of distress recently?" The doctor asks, his voice as monotone as ever -- my kind of people.

I consider the question carefully. "Five," I say, my voice betraying no emotion.

"I am neither content nor in great distress. I simply exist."

The physician nods whilst taking notes. "I will ask you some more specific questions now. You may choose to answer or decline as you wish." I nod once more.

"Excellent," the physician mutters. "First, have you experienced any mood swings or bouts of depression since your injury?"

"No," I reply, my voice as flat as his.

"I have experienced no such thing. My emotional state has been consistent since the injury."

The doctor jotted something down in his notes. "You seem to have a high tolerance for pain." he says, his eyes scanning the notes.

"Do you feel pain as intensely as the average person, or do you have a higher pain threshold?" I once again consider the question, trying to recall the last time I had felt pain. "I believe my pain threshold is well above average," I reply.

"That is quite an interesting response," the doctor says, his tone unchanged. Furiously scribbling words into his notebook, I narrow my eyes but do not say a word.

The physician leans forward to pick up another set of notes from his bag, but they slip from his grasp and flutter haphazardly to the floor.

He sighs in annoyance and bends down to retrieve them, but in doing so, his eyes landed on my exposed chest. His expression shifting from annoyance to alarm, and he immediately straightened, his eyes wide.

"Your wound..." he says cautiously, his voice trembling ever so slightly. "It is...it is not healing properly. Well this is very serious."

My brow furrows lightly, and I trail my eyes to stare at the uncovered side of my chest which instead of smooth pale skin now held a protruding dark grey almost black coloured vein arranged like a web all connecting to the point where the needle pierced my chest...where it still sits plunged between my heart.

I had been betrayed by the one person I thought I could trust, and now my body is deteriorating as a result. silver coursed through my veins corroding my body from inside out eating away both my heart and soul.

Aetos and Lloslovic were unnaturally close-mouthed today I glance at them for a few seconds but got pulled back by the physician's abrupt cough.

"Honestly sir Alistair I wish to be as frank as possible." I don't question the old mad but give a slight nod beckoning him to continue already knowing the outcome but the other two vampires in the room waited patiently with batted breath.

"Be as frank if need be." I say barely restraining myself from narrowing my eyes when I feel two presence behind me."

Ignoring their existence I focus solely on the old man. My stare blank. "Well to put it simply Sir Alistair, your dying that is the truth."

I hear a pair of gasps but do not comment urging the Physician with my eyes. He continued a moment later. "You all should know that the needle currently lodged in my lord's heart is made of pure silver." He pauses waiting for a response but was met with unsettling silence.

"Moreover, it was coated with a special type of poison which unfortunately I cannot seem to Identify."

I stare blankly, the memory leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. Everything he said was accurate so what was is the point of saying it again.

It seemed lloslovic thought the very same because he let out a scoff.

"Excuse my rudeness, but I believe that There is no need to repeat the sorrowful events of the past, for we were all present when calamity befell us," Llosvic interjected, his voice brusque. Aetos remained silent, his features betraying the deep concern that plagued his mind.

I heave a slight sigh, attempting to rise up from my seat and approach the bed at least that was my aim as I had not even take two steps before my effort was thwarted by Aetos " Be careful Alistair, you would not want to further aggravate your Injury ." Aetos chides me like a fledgling as Llosovic watches me eyes brimming with distress.

I snap furiously at both of them "Stop treating me like I am fragile." I turn to Llosovic "And you, wipe that look of your face it's unsightly for a vampire of your status."

Llosovic's features remained tense, though he did his best to conceal his trepidation. Aetos, on the other hand, merely rolled his eyes in exasperation and fixed his gaze on the physician, asking, "Sir Reginald, do you have a plan for removing the needle? Surely there must be a way... Right?"

The old man stroked his silver-flecked mustache thoughtfully with a minute shake of his head his response needing no verbal articulation.

There simply wasn't a way to cure me.

The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees, suddenly turning solemn that is nearly felt suffocating. The air became tense as the old man's proclamation hangs in the air like a guillotine blade. It was like the impending doom we were trying to illude ourselves of its existence suddenly caught up with us.

"My Lord..." the old man intoned, rising to his feet crossing the room striding to the window. His face was unreadable as he stared at us.

"Honestly, there be not a way to cure My lord from his current ailment as it is not something on the surface. The silver-poison-tipped-needle is plunged directly in-between his heart." he explained.

"Therefore, trying to remove it...honestly, will be a futile task and may very well cost sir to lose his life faster." he glances at all of us making sure we understood how dire our predicament was. There was a bout of silence in the room as everyone was lost in their own thoughts about the situation.

The old man crossed his arms, his brow furrowing as a thought seemed to flicker behind his eyes. He lifted his head, as if pondering, then shook it slightly, a look of uncertainty clouding his features.

"A heart transplant is certainly out of the question as we cannot give Sir a Living person's heart as it still beats. Another way would be to get the Sorcerer who inflicted or knows the type of poison that is corroding my lord's body and ask him to dispel the poison. Thus, getting the needle out would be a lot easier.

Llosovic and I cast a glare at the physician while Aetos blatantly refused the very idea."With the greatest respect, Sir," he interjected, his tone one of polite incredulity. "We eliminated the entire Sorcerer community. Even if one somehow still existed - an unlikely prospect, at best - do you truly believe that we could convince them to assist us? Who would aid someone knowing you once tried to know kill them. The mere notion seems utterly absurd."

The physician appeared stumped with the blatant rejection of his idea. Nervously he fidgets with his hands, his countenance showing apprehension ."My lord," the old man began, his voice grave. "There is one final possibility, but it is fraught with peril. Are you certain you wish to hear it?" He hesitated, pausing a second for a deep breath

"I speak of a forced induced sleep, a state of deep slumber that could allow the healing to occur."

My plan from the very start.

Aetos shakes his head firmly "No, that's too perilous, What if he never awakens? It is widely known that vampires who are subjected to a forced sleep have a high chance of succumbing into Eternal slumber. To risk that, when the consequences could be so dire, would be madness." Llosovic nodded in assent, his expression grave.

"Aetos is right. There has got to be another way. We can not gamble with our Sire's life."

The physician let out a long, defeated sigh, knowing that his words were falling on deaf ears. "I realize it's a desperate gambit," he conceded. "But given our circumstances, it is the only course of action we have left."

"I will not agree with this!"

"Neither will I...We just have to find a better plausible solution that does not endanger Sire's life."

As Aetos and Llosovic continued to voice their vehement objections, I cut them off with a firm declaration. "I have the final say in this matter," I said, my tone brooking no argument. "Before the examination, I already anticipated the outcome, and thus, I had formulated this plan from the very beginning."

"Do not dare to stand in my way," I declared, my voice resonating with authority. "This is a decision that I must make, regardless of whatever reservation."

The room was charged with tension, Llosovic and Aetos were looking at each other with disbelief. "You are deranged." says Aetos, shaking his head. "You are courting death, Alistair. We can find another way."

"THIS IS THE ONLY WAY AETOS!" I shout startling everyone in the room as all eyes fixate on me incredulously.

"I have failed in my duty as your leader, and in doing so, I have sullied the reputation of vampires everywhere," I confessed, my voice tinged with remorse. "If I am to atone for my mistakes, I must do whatever it takes, no matter the cost or the perils that may befall me. Even if it means venturing through the darkest depths of Hell itself."

The trio gape at me in disbelief, later Llosovic shoulders sag in defeat as if he had given up all hopes of reasoning with me. Aetos laughs bitterly as he slumps onto the couch. "you are impossible! There is just be no getting through to you, is there? stubborn as a mule."

The side if my lips twitch's as I gaze indifferently at Aetos, unphased by his criticism. "You of all should know that." Aetos throws his hands up in the air, shaking his head in exasperation.

"As I said before Alistair, you are courting death." He sighs tone laced with exasperation "It is such a foolhardy plan how can you not see that?"

Slowly a mischievous grin starts to grow on his face. "You are nothing if you don't make me worry aye." He snorts ungracefully as he added "what a pain."

"If I am so aggravating, "I say with a feigned air of exasperation, "then perhaps I should sleep for as long as you desire - how does decades sound? centuries? even a millennia?" I ask voice tinged with a hint of mirth, making it clear that I was only teasing.

However, my jest proved a misstep, as Llosovic and Aetos fixed me with gazes of apprehension. Even the unperturbed physician seemed to sense a shift in the atmosphere, his previously impassive expression now one of mild disconcertion.

"Sire!" Llosovic intoned, his eyes narrowing in stern reproach. "I implore you not to jest in such a manner. The circumstances are of grave import." I exhale a breath of resignation. It appeares that my attempt at levity had proven woefully ill-conceived.

I don a dark cloak and prepare to depart.

Aetos fixes me with a piercing gaze, his brows furrowed in suspicion. "And just where dost thou believe thou art going, my good sir?" he inquires, his tone laced with sarcasm.

I cast Aetos with a resolute gaze. "Since my ill fate is set, I must take one last opportunity to revel in the splendor of yonder London, before my fateful slumber," I declare with an air of finality.

Translation -- I am leaving and you have no right whatsoever to stop me.

Aetos is visibly unsettled by my proclamation, all of us fully aware of the perilous pursuit that is currently underway. However, with a deep-seated sense of acceptance, Aetos nods granting my wish, for it may be my last chance to savor the sights and sounds of beautiful London.

The old man clears his throat making his presence known as he warns "I must stress, my lord, that this is not a decision to be made lightly. The forced sleep may very well provide a chance for healing, but the risks are significant. The act of inducing such a deep sleep is no trivial task, and there is always the possibility of unforeseen complications arising."

I was well aware of the potential consequences if my actions proved ineffectual, so I turned to face the trio standing before me. Aetos and Llosovic regarded me with sober countenances, while the usual stone-faced physician furrowed his brows in unease. There was no turning back, and so I steeled myself, grasped the door handle, and strode out of the room.